The popularity of social networking continues to surge, particularly in the ancient yet vibrant region of the Arab world, which is becoming a hotly contested arena for numerous social apps. Although religious culture somewhat restricts local social interactions, the enthusiastic nature of the people continuously promotes the rapid development of online voice chatting.
Particularly in regions like Saudi Arabia and the UAE, lavish tipping and strong spending power have presented numerous developers with opportunities, also bringing substantial profit returns to many social products. From simple voice chats to the integration of mini-games, karaoke, and other diverse content, more and more apps are entering the local market by updating their creativity and enriching user experiences, aiming to get a share of this lucrative market.
Yaahlan is a typical voice chat app tailored for the Arab region. According to data, the app was launched in 2023 by the Hong Kong company Mana Games, and has nearly 6.4 million downloads to date, with peak daily downloads reaching nearly 34,000, and recently stabilizing at about 6,500 per day, with a monthly download growth of 35%.
In contrast, another voice chat app, Ahlan TopOne, developed by Wuhan Dongchen Technology Co., Ltd., has been online for 3 years and has only about 400,000 downloads but has generated nearly $3.6 million in revenue.
From the launch time, both voice chat apps are transitioning from their initial stages to maturity, a phase crucial for whether products can sustain long-term stable development. In the current fiercely competitive market environment, some aim for short-term products to quickly scale up and then exit, while others get overtaken by newcomers during this transition period.
Therefore, products committed to long-term commercialization need to face not only a large amount of homogeneous competition but also challenges in breaking through their own technological and gameplay bottlenecks. To provide developers with some new insights, we conducted an in-depth analysis of both apps after disassembling them.
Social + Entertainment, creating a voice chat product exclusively for Arabs
Yaahlan positions itself as a social entertainment hub specifically for Arab users. This positioning, on one hand, gives local users a unique sense of belonging, boundary, and respect from the outset.
Just as TikTok users recently integrated into Xiaohongshu, many domestic users stated that this is an app for "Chinese" people, and they do not want to see a large amount of English, which prompted Xiaohongshu to launch a translation feature overnight. This respect for language and regional culture is similarly important in the Arab region.
Moreover, this positioning cleverly solves language issues during use. Yaahlan currently supports Arabic, Turkish, English, and Chinese, facilitating effective communication among users and avoiding communication troubles due to language barriers.
On the other hand, the app is built around the concept of "Social + Entertainment." On the basis of its inherent social attributes in voice chat, it adds more fun gameplay to construct an online "party," helping strangers from various Arab countries to break the ice quickly.
Yaahlan mainly divides its functions into chat rooms and fun games, and each module is further enhanced. The app recommends interested voice rooms on the homepage and clearly displays the room owner's name, personal level, and theme category, allowing users to quickly find suitable voice rooms based on this basic information.
In a region like the Arab world, where family and tribal concepts are strong, the "fight for the family" PK gameplay has become a good entry point to increase activity. Cool entrance effects and unique gift settings make entering a Yaahlan room feel like a "star's entrance," capturing everyone's attention.
PK winners can earn points, thereby entering the leaderboard, where the top three users' avatars are decorated with special halos to reflect their honor. This implicit "different treatment," influenced by family honor, becomes motivating, encouraging users to earn points through continuous PK to climb the leaderboard.
If social attributes are reflected in voice communication, then entertainment attributes are highlighted in the diversified interactive games. Considering the Arab people's fondness for board games, the games in the app are mostly board games, including Ludo, Carrom, Snakes and Ladders, Dominoes, and Chess. These games are free for users, thus lowering the barrier to joining games and enhancing social efficiency.
Additionally, during local festivals, Yaahlan hosts various online celebrations to increase user participation.
Overall, although the overall gameplay is similar to many voice chat apps, it can be seen that it has been optimized in detail in terms of effects, games, and PK.
Password locks boundaries, turning public communication areas into private chat rooms instantly
Although Ahlan TopOne is not exclusively for Arabs, it has entered the Top 50 on the social bestseller list in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Qatar, and other places, making it a popular app among Arabs. It currently covers Arabic, Turkish, English, Portuguese, and Spanish.
Unlike Yaahlan, which focuses on socializing with strangers in the Arab region, Ahlan TopOne provides broad opportunities for making friends across countries while also using password locks to expand the track of acquaintances' socializing.
Users can create themed voice rooms based on their interests and set passwords so that only friends who know the password can enter the room, effectively transforming any public communication area into an excellent private chat room. In the homepage, a "little lock" icon is used to distinguish it, representing a "social boundary."
Each voice room also displays the theme, room owner's nationality, and popularity value as important references for users to decide whether to join.
Compared to Yaahlan's focus on online games, Ahlan TopOne focuses more on online gatherings, where users can create a birthday party or even an online wedding feast for friends with beautiful gifts like cakes and roses, along with romantic effects.
In the Middle East, where offline gatherings are limited, being able to occasionally experience surprises online is a consolation for the locals, thus becoming a key factor in attracting user retention.
Beyond these basic functions, Ahlan TopOne also adds a community section similar to "Moments," but this "Moments" is not limited to friends. Instead, all users of the app can share pictures and text anytime, anywhere, and tag them with keywords. For content of interest, users can increase stickiness through following, liking, commenting, or even interacting with gifts.
In summary, Ahlan TopOne combines stranger and acquaintance socializing into one app, expanding its user base. Similarly leveraging effects and gifts, it creates a surprising and ceremonial "surprise party" with a variety of gameplay, earning good reviews for its immersive experience mode.
Significant contrast in data performance, a small number of users leverage high payments
According to data, the two apps show a clear contrast in download and revenue data. Like many social apps on the market, Yaahlan has high downloads but low revenue, while Ahlan TopOne is the opposite.
In less than two years since its launch, Yaahlan's 6.4 million downloads correspond to only about $750,000 in revenue, with in-app purchases accounting for about 47%. The United States contributes the most to in-app purchases, accounting for about 47%, followed by Germany at 7% and Jordan at 6%.
From the regional distribution of in-app purchases, it is not difficult to see that although the app is primarily for Arabs, it has not captured their "wallets," especially in wealthy regions like Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
Yaahlan's in-app purchases include only buying gems (in-app currency), used for gift tipping and other operations. Prices range from $0.29 to $159.99, with a large price range also giving users the right to choose as needed, but overall prices are mostly concentrated within $10, which to some extent explains why the overall in-app purchases are not high.
Beyond in-app purchases, most of Yaahlan's revenue comes from advertising, and it has established official accounts on multiple social media platforms such as TikTok, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram to expand traffic and receive immediate user feedback to optimize the product experience.
On the other hand, Ahlan TopOne attracts a large amount of spending with a small number of users. Since its launch, the total in-app revenue has reached $3.6 million, with most of the app's revenue also coming from in-app purchases. The United States and Saudi Arabia are the main contributors to in-app purchases, accounting for 42% and 17%, respectively. However, not relying on advertising for profit also leads to certain limitations in its download channels, resulting in lower download volumes.
Similarly, with a single in-app currency purchase, Ahlan TopOne's pricing is simpler, with only 5 tiers. $1 corresponds to 2,000 coins, and as the price increases, there is no discount on the number of coins. The most expensive in-app purchase is $100, corresponding to 200,000 coins. This pricing gradient is friendly to both new and old players, and as users' participation deepens, their willingness and price to pay also increase.
Yaahlan, which is strong in customer acquisition, and Ahlan TopOne, which excels in revenue, interpret the innovation of voice chat from different angles. In a highly competitive homogeneous track, even a small creative point can be magnified into a highlight during the market dissemination process.
Conclusion
In the journey of exploring the overseas social market, Chinese outbound players have left deep footprints after their efforts. It is certain that both Europe and America and the Arab region show a huge demand and consumption potential for innovative social products and services.
To get a share of these nearly saturated regional markets, deep insights and localized deployment remain key to creating opportunities.
